mentir

\mɑ̃.tiʁ\

/\mɑ̃.tiʁ\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“mentir” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #4,350. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,350
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ne pas dire la vérité ; dire quelque chose de contraire à la vérité ; cacher la vérité ; induire volontairement en erreur.

Corpus desk

Index FR-mentir · mentir · French

mentir · rank #4,350 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,350
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH master

Nearest frequency peer: master (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « mentir »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « mentir » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

mentir vs métis
50% similar
mentir vs munir
67% similar
mentir vs monti
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for mentir
PropertyValue
Headwordmentir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\mɑ̃.tiʁ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#4,350
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « mentir »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).mentirse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « master » (#4,349), « menée » (#4,351), « marier » (#4,348). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « mentir » est au #4,350. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around mentir (IPA \mɑ̃.tiʁ\), averb. Corpus frequency is #4,350 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for mentir, with forms such as "emntir", "menitr", and "menntir". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "métis", "munir", "monti", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is mentir, spelled M-E-N-T-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ne pas dire la vérité ; dire quelque chose de contraire à la vérité ; cacher la vérité ; induire volontairement en erreur.
  2. 2
    Déguiser ou cacher le caractère, en parlant du visage, de la physionomie d'une personne.
  3. 3
    Donner un démenti par ses actes.
  4. 4
    (réfléchi) Se persuader à soi-même une chose qu'on sait être fausse.
  5. 5
    (réciproque) Se dire des mensonges les uns aux autres.
  6. 6
    Dire, répondre, manifester quelque chose de mensonger, d’insincère.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how mentir appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Le colonel éprouvait, tandis que les mots sortaient de ses lèvres, qu’il mentait de moins en moins, ou si l’on préfère, que ce qui était mensonge durant les premiers mots était en train de devenir vérité pure, sans aucun alliage suspect.
  2. La vérité, c'est une agonie qui n'en finit pas. La vérité de ce monde c'est la mort. Il faut choisir, mourir ou mentir. Je n'ai jamais pu me tuer moi.

Synonyms

mythonermythonnerraconter des cracksraconter des histoiresraconter des saladesavoir la langue fourchue

This word in other languages

lie(English)mentir(Español)flunkern(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • emntir
  • menitr
  • menntir
  • mentirr
  • mentri
  • menttir
  • metnir
  • mmentir
  • mnetir

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mentir - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

emntir2menitr2menntir1mentirr1mentri2menttir1metnir2mmentir1
Edit distance from "mentir"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mentir"?
"mentir" is spelled M-E-N-T-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \mɑ̃.tiʁ\.
What does "mentir" mean?
As a verb, "mentir" means: Ne pas dire la vérité ; dire quelque chose de contraire à la vérité ; cacher la vérité ; induire volontairement en erreur.
What words are commonly confused with "mentir"?
"mentir" is commonly confused with "métis", "munir", "monti". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mentir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mentir" is \mɑ̃.tiʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mentir" come from?
"mentir" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "mentir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

master#4,349marier#4,348leçons#4,346misère#4,354

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

portait9 variantsfatigue9 variantsdiffusé9 variantsbelges9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list